{"id":132554,"date":"2021-11-10T15:02:33","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T14:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=132554"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:58","slug":"honorary-doctorates-for-leading-practising-scientists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/honorary-doctorates-for-leading-practising-scientists\/","title":{"rendered":"Honorary doctorates for leading practising scientists"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Monday, 8 November, Erasmus University presented two honorary doctorates to researchers from the medical world. These doctorates are traditionally given to mark the university\u2019s birthday, which was 108 years ago on Monday. This year\u2019s theme was health technology & society.<\/p>\n

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Karl Deisseroth is given the kappa by his wife. <\/span><\/p>

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Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the honorary doctorates were presented online. So, helped by his wife, Karl Deisseroth, Professor of Bioengineering, and Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at Stanford University donned his cape in his home in California in the presence of his family. The other honorary doctor Trisha Greenhalgh, Professor of Primary Care Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, was closer, in the United Kingdom. The cape and certificate which had been sent earlier were presented by a colleague.<\/p>\n

\u2018Brilliant scientist\u2019<\/h2>

In his laudatio praising the honorary doctor, promotor Chris de Zeeuw (Professor of Neurosciences, Erasmus MC) called Deisseroth a \u2018brilliant scientist\u2019. Deisseroth is responsible for ground-breaking research in optogenetics. With this technology, individual brain cells can be identified and targeted when treating illnesses. \u201cKarl has thus solved the problem whereby medicines used to affect all the cells, not just the diseased cells,\u201d says De Zeeuw. In the future, it will be possible to improve the treatment of illnesses like epilepsy, Parkinson\u2019s and ALS.<\/p>\n

In particular, De Zeeuw also mentioned the fact that Deisseroth does not restrict his work to the lab. As a psychiatrist, he also works with patients with autism and depression every week.<\/p>\n

Behaviour of a plant<\/h2>

After the ceremony, Deisseroth gave a short lecture about his findings. Indirectly, this was an appeal for fundamental science. His invention to control brain cells with light is based on research by the nineteenth-century botanist Andrei Famintsyn<\/a> who discovered that certain single-cell algae move towards the light. \u201cThis shows you what science can produce. This plant behaviour ultimately resulted in optogenetics,\u201d says Deisseroth.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m a rebel\u2019<\/h2>
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Trisha Greenhalgh received her honorary doctorate in her homecountry the UK.<\/span><\/p>

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The second doctorate, from Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM), was for Trisha Greenhalgh. She received an honorary doctorate for her research into complex innovations in healthcare. Besides her work as a doctor and researcher, Greenhalgh is a member of various medical advisory boards in the United Kingdom and in the World Health Organisation.<\/p>\n

Greenhalgh is delighted to receive the honorary doctorate from a university bearing the name of Erasmus. \u201cHe was a bit of a rebel who fought against the prevailing dogmas, which is how I see myself too. I love being associated with a young university, when you think that my own Oxford university is 920 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

Telling stories<\/h2>

Greenhalgh received the insignia digitally from promotor Roland Bal (Professor of Healthcare Governance, ESHPM). \u201cThere have never been so many discussions about healthcare and technology as in the recent period,\u201d Bal began his laudatio for Greenhalgh. As a scientist, she has made an important contribution to this (even just in terms of her 150,000 Twitter followers). \u201cGreenhalgh has bridged the gap between the medical and social sciences, and created a framework that will hopefully lead to fewer failed innovations in healthcare,\u201d says Bal.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018There are no nice linear lives\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t\t\t
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Greenhalgh gives a nice example of how a medical innovation, in this case a home glucose meter, must also withstand situations in daily life, like a dog picking it up in his mouth. \u201cThat is the complexity we live with. There are no nice linear lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

She explains that difficult problems are also difficult to solve, because those involved have different visions about the definition of the success or failure of a project. It is therefore useless to work towards consensus, but it is useful to continue talking and listening to each other. Greenhalgh refers to Aristoteles who said that \u2018we must tell each other stories\u2019 to tackle complex problems.<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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